


What is, and what could be

by kaizuka



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: College AU, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, i think this is pretty much a ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 05:02:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10869654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaizuka/pseuds/kaizuka
Summary: A look into first meetings and second chances. Nothing will ever happen if you don't at least try, starting off with a simple "hi".





	What is, and what could be

**Author's Note:**

> If you're waiting on any of my other works, I am so so so sorry. Right now things are a bit overwhelming, and I've hardly had the chance to update or address comments! 
> 
> For now, this is just something short to shake off the stress from finals, and to brush the rust off of my writing. Much love, and good luck to everyone doing their best to make it through that last stretch of classes. <3

The first time Victor sees Yuuri, he nearly missteps in his attempt to sneakily watch the other man from behind tinted shades. After quickly and easily regaining poise (not that he had ever lost it in the first place—Victor Nikiforov _never_ trips in front of anyone), Victor smoothly slides himself onto the nearest bench, crossing his legs like that had been his aim all along. _Cute,_ Victor thinks, letting his eyes wander freely behind the cover of his sunglasses. Very _cute_. A second later has Victor silently willing the gaggle of girls crossing in front of the very-nice-looking Asian boy away so as to resume his gawking, and sighs a little when they finally move past his line of vision. 

The first time Yuuri sees Victor (on a different day), the first thing he does is a wildly obvious double take.

The second thing he does is walk straight into a recycling bin, sending its contents—and his glasses—flying across the campus walkway. 

The resounding crash has him cringing inwardly, even as he flounders around for his glasses. Someone giggles from the side, and Yuuri’s ears burn as he realizes he must look like some sort of crazy person, blindly crawling through trash.

In the next moment, a warm hand covers Yuuri’s, followed by the cool feel of his glasses against his palm. 

“Are you okay?” 

The moment the bridge of Yuuri’s glasses touch his nose is the moment he thinks he’s died and gone to heaven—he’s being greeted at the pearly white gates by an _angel_. 

“I’m—yes,” Yuuri stutters, gaping as the guy he had _just_ been ogling at grabs him by the hand to hoist him back up.

“Good. And lucky about the trash too, because it was pretty empty. Though I don’t know what that says about this college’s students and recycling,” the other man says wryly, looking down at the three recycled items still scattered across the pavement. His hand is still holding Yuuri’s. 

“Well. Thank you,” Yuuri manages to say, gently sliding his hand out of the other’s, and the light haired man looks up at him in surprise, almost as if he’d forgotten that they’d been holding hands in the first place. “I think I should… I’m gonna go. Thunks. _I mean thanks._ ” And with that, Yuuri turns on his heel, pressing his hands against burning cheeks, his messenger bag flailing wildly against his leg as he walks. 

_He was so handsome,_ Yuuri thinks, squeezing his lips against a giddy smile threatening to overtake his face. And then, _I tripped in front of him? I’m going to_ die.

_Huh,_ Victor muses, back at the scene of the recycling bin mishap. _He’s even cuter up close._ And then: _…do I have to pick this trash up?_

 

\--- --- --- --- --- --- ---

 

And with that, Yuuri and Victor constantly work to keep an eye out for each other, in between classes, or on the way home. 

Victor sees Yuuri sitting with a friend, dark heads close together. A smile lights up Yuuri’s face as he looks at something on his friend’s phone, and Victor kind of, sort of, wishes that he was next to him instead. 

Yuuri sees Victor grinning winningly as he spikes a ball over a makeshift net during their university’s common lunch hour, and his friend next to him laughs boisterously as the girls on the other side coo unhappily at missing the ball. Yuuri nibbles at his lower lip, imagining a world where he’d stride right up and onto the grass, smile cheerfully at the light haired man, and easily ask for a spot in the next game.

In reality, Yuuri sneaks one last glance at Victor before turning back to the direction of his class, hitching his bag’s strap up higher on his shoulder as he leaves.

(Victor sees him leaving and contemplates “accidentally” hitting the ball in that direction. However, he acknowledges that that could backfire in more ways than one, one of which include a scenario where he ends up bashing the cute guy’s head in. Victor mentally chucks his idea away and turns back to the game.)

 

\--- ---- --- --- --- ---- ---

 

They still don’t know each other’s names. 

Yuuri always keeps one ear open on the off chance that someone will yell out his crush’s name. The guy _is_ pretty popular after all. He doesn’t get so lucky though, and is always left staring after the man’s back as he walks away, often to yet another group of gorgeous looking friends. 

Unbeknownst to Yuuri, Victor has played a guessing game of his own when it comes to Yuuri’s name. 

_He’s Asian, so it could be something along those lines?_ Victor thinks. He expresses those exact thoughts to a quiet boy in his elective, who he’s somehow made friends with. After all, Seung Gil is Asian, so maybe he’d have an idea?

Instead, Victor is subjected to an irritated speech about generalizations, and the importance of names and their subsequent Americanization. You do not just _guess_ someone’s name like that, Seung Gil tells Victor bluntly, and Victor considers himself roundly rebuked, and newly informed. 

Besides, whatever name that guy had would undoubtedly suit him. And when Victor finds out what it is, he’s sure that it would become his new favorite name. Aside from Makkachin, of course. Everything about Makkachin is his favorite. 

 

 

\--- --- -- ---

 

 

The end of the semester is approaching. And in other words, the end of another school year. 

Victor is graduating, and Yuuri is entering his junior year the following semester.

Both are panicking at the potential of never seeing their crush again without exchanging another word—preferably somewhere away from a battered old recycling bin. 

It’s finals week, and by a stroke of luck, both Victor and Yuuri are seated in the same, rather deserted courtyard, textbooks and laptops open on their laps. 

_Is it just me, or is he sneaking glances?_ Victor and Yuuri wonder. And then, a moment later, they internally shake their heads, silently berating themselves for getting their hopes up. 

_Just my imagination,_ they think, and settle back with their course materials—continuing to sneak glances all the while.

Victor frowns a little at some point, when the clock on his laptop screen catches his eye. He has fifteen more minutes till his next final, and he should probably leave just to be safe. His laptop screen closes with a final sounding click, and he nibbles on his lower lip, tapping a finger against its cover. He has two finals left today, and then he’s done with his college career. Graduation is just around the corner, and he has no idea whether or not he’d ever see the cute boy sitting across the courtyard from him every again. 

Yuuri’s heart leaps when he hears the sound of the other man packing up, the sounds loud in the stillness of the courtyard. The other student’s near them don’t even react, too into their studying and the tinny sounds of music spilling from their earphones. Yuuri, though, flicks his eyes at the other man wildly from behind his glasses. _If he leaves, you may never see him again,_ Yuuri thinks, leg beginning to bounce in his agitation. _This is your chance. Even if you don’t do anything more, at least you’ll have been able to talk to him, right, Yuuri? Right?_

Yuuri glances up again, and freezes when their eyes meet.

_I should just do it,_ Victor tells himself, half irritated at his own reluctance. He’s never felt this nervous before—normally, if there were someone he was interested in, he’d waltz right up to them without a second thought. But after watching the other person from afar for so long, Victor wonders if it would even be worth it to ruin the daydream he’d imagined up for himself. _But he’s cute…_ Victor thinks,

_…and I want to get to know him,_ Yuuri decides, trying to nonchalantly slide his own laptop shut and stuff his items into his bag. He stands in one smooth motion, bringing a hand up to his hair to ensure it was neat, but not _too_ neat, and still nice enough for a good first—second, actually—impression. 

They lift their bags onto their shoulders at the same time, and Yuuri gives himself one more moment to reinforce his heart before taking a step forward, keeping his eyes resolutely on his shoes. 

_All I need to do…_ Victor thinks,

_…is give him a simple greeting, and maybe…_ Yuuri thinks,

_…ask him how his day is going, and…_

_…what year he’s in, or if he’s graduating soon… Maybe I need an ice breaker. Like…_

_’Hey, do you know the time?’ Huh. Maybe that’s a little too obvious._ Victor snorts inwardly. _I suppose… what if I just…_

_Started a conversation like a normal person? All I’ve got to do…_

_…is go up to him…_

_and say…_

“Hi.”


End file.
